Bill offers wrong path for legal marijuana

While we at Lehigh Valley NORML applaud the efforts of our Legislature to pass cannabis legalization, we strongly oppose the current state store model that hurriedly passed out of the state House on May 7 along party lines, 102-101. In its present form the bill would require so much capital at startup that it would be years before the program could turn a profit, rendering the crutch that holds up Gov. Shapiro’s current budget attempt broken.

We at Lehigh Valley NORML encourage cannabis legalization at the state level, and believe that we’ll see new bills introduced imminently, which better serve our needs, without bankrupting a promising new industry. Why bankrupt the state to build a system that was already created eight years ago for medical marijuana in Pennsylvania? We are looking to bipartisan measures in both the House and Senate, and we are working with Sens. Sharif Street and Dan Laughlin, as well as Reps. Emily Kinkead and Abby Major, to present their bills in a short time. The clock is ticking, Pennsylvanians are ready, and the governor is waiting to sign cannabis legalization into law in Pennsylvania.

Jeffrey Riedy

The writer is the executive director of Lehigh Valley NORML.

All of us are children of God

The Lehigh Valley Quakers unanimously support the following statement of our faith:

With love and gratitude, we stand in solidarity with members of the LGBTQIA+ community within our meeting and beyond.

As Quakers, we believe that there is that of God in everyone. From this belief flows the Quaker testimony of equality, based in the religious conviction that all people are of equal spiritual worth, that each one of us is unique and precious, a child of God. LGBTQIA+ people are no exception. Indeed, it has been our direct experience that the gifts of the Spirit are bestowed without consideration of distinctions such as gender, race, age, disability or sexual orientation.

Accordingly, it is clear to us that acts of discrimination against LGBTQIA+ people, whether by individuals, organizations, or governments, are a grave assault on our most deeply cherished testimonies and beliefs.

Our meeting has been powerfully enriched by the many contributions of our LGBTQIA+ members and attenders. Without them, we would not be the meeting that we are and that we love.

Cori Rolón

Allentown

The writer is the clerk of the Lehigh Valley Quakers.

ANIZDA follows law on audits, transparency

I would like to address a recent article in The Morning Call.

The Allentown Neighborhood Improvement Zone Development Authority must follow the requirements of the NIZ Act and related legislation. The ANIZDA website contains the independently audited financial information required under present law. ANIZDA is compliant and transparent under the requirements of the present law.

Sens. Coleman and Miller are now seeking to change the law, which would allow auditors access to select taxpayer information for the purpose of an additional audit. The proposed changes would allow an audit of local taxes that comprise about 4% of the annual taxes collected in the NIZ. Assuming the law is changed, ANIZDA would cooperate with obtaining this additional audit.

The law also would change the way board members are selected. ANIZDA’s board has nine members selected by Allentown’s mayor, three House representatives and two state senators, and approved by City Council. Over the past several years, board members have not been replaced or reappointed because all these parties must agree on every replacement or reappointment. Senate Bill 347 would clarify the selection process and does not require agreement. This change is welcomed as a means of creating a full board. ANIZDA is cooperating with Sens. Coleman and Miller in their attempt to change the law.

Sy Traub

The writer is the chairperson of ANIZDA.

Muhlenberg College president: Criticism overlooks facts

I’m writing in response to retired professor Edward J. Erickson’s May 9 column, “Opinion: Muhlenberg College, freedom of speech and antisemitism.” Muhlenberg College shares professor Erickson’s belief that higher education should investigate uncomfortable topics and that faculty should inquire deeply and express themselves freely. Faculty at Muhlenberg are encouraged to investigate topics, inquire deeply and express themselves freely in alignment with the American Association of University Professors’ 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure, which asserts fundamental faculty freedoms in research, classrooms and speech as private citizens — and also imposes “special obligations” on faculty in carrying out their duties on campus and as college representatives in private life: to be accurate, exercise appropri­ate restraint, show respect for the opinions of others, and make every effort to indicate that they are not speaking for the institution.

The opinion expressed in the column does not consider all the facts in this particular matter. I would encourage professor Erickson and readers to investigate the full public record.

Kathleen Harring

The writer is the president of Muhlenberg College.

It is a might makes right world

It was instructive to read Edward J. Erickson’s article on the Muhlenberg College professor (Maura Finkelstein) who was forced to resign due to her criticism of “Israeli settlement policies in the West Bank … and the conduct of the war in Gaza.” He suggests Finkelstein ascribes to the idea that Israel is engaged in “settler colonialism … a system of oppression based on genocide and colonialism, that aims to displace a population of a nation (often indigenous people) and replace it with a new settler population.” He might have pointed out that the United States was built precisely on settler colonialism as defined. And just as Zionism is rooted in the religious belief of “returning the Jewish diaspora to the Promised Land of Abraham,” so too was the Manifest Destiny of 19th-century U.S. westward expansion, and the resulting annihilation of the Native American population, believed to be divinely ordained. Using religion to sanction a major geopolitical movement is like having a permanent God-given trump card.

Let’s face it, we live in a “might makes right” world. Those with the most bombs and strongest army always get their way: Russia in Ukraine, Israel in Gaza. Will Trump have his way and colonize Canada and Greenland?

Tony O’Malley

Emmaus

The Morning Call publishes letters from readers online and in print several times a week. Submit a letter to the editor at letters@mcall.com. The views expressed in this piece are those of its individual author(s), and should not be interpreted as reflecting the views of this publication.